Sexual Offences: Sentencing

Justice written question – answered at on 22 November 2010.

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Photo of Anna Soubry Anna Soubry Conservative, Broxtowe

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many sex offenders have been subject to an indeterminate public protection sentence since 2003; and how many of those have since been released from custody.

Photo of Crispin Blunt Crispin Blunt Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice) (Prisons and Probation)

The number of persons given an indeterminate sentence (known as imprisonment for public protection (IPP)) for sexual offences in England and Wales, 2005 to 2009 (latest available) is shown in the following table.

Data for 2003 and 2004 are unavailable as IPPs came into force on 4 April 2005.

Data for 2010 are planned for publication in the spring of 2011.

As at 17 November 2010, 26 offenders serving an IPP sentence for sexual offences have been released from custody, five of whom were subsequently recalled. This figure does not include offenders who have been subject to deportation and excludes eight IPP offenders where we are currently waiting for updated information.

It also excludes offenders issued with an IPP who may have had their sentence quashed or reduced on appeal, and therefore is only subset of the figures quoted in the table.

The figures on releases were taken from the Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD) in the National Offender Management Service, and, as with any large scale recording system, it is subject to possible errors arising from either data entry or processing. The PPUD is a live database, updated on a regular basis. As a result, snapshots taken in consecutive days will contain differences reflecting updates.

Number of persons sentenced to imprisonment for public protection (IPP)( 1) , for sexual offences, 2005 to 2009( 2,3,4)
Offence group 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Sexual offences 48 328 400 375 298
(1) S.225 and 226 Criminal Justice Act 2003-Detention for Public Protection in the case of offenders under 18. (2) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (4) IPPs commenced on 4 April 2005. Source: Justice Statistics-Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice.

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